Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Around Redwood Ridge's surrounding camps, there was a tacit agreement.

If a person hadn't broken through to the Lumbering Realm before the age of twenty-five, their value for cultivation was considered very small.

It wasn't that there was no hope after twenty-five, but mainly that after this age, their potential would rapidly decrease. The same resources invested in them wouldn't yield as much improvement as in someone under twenty-five.

The so-called resources, of course, referred to the flesh and blood of Frost Beasts.

In Xia Hong's view, this tacit agreement was clearly based on a scarcity of resources.

Before seeing Frost Beasts, he didn't understand.

But after venturing out and witnessing the power of the Frost Wolves and Snow鬃s, he knew that for these weak camps around Redwood Ridge, every ounce of Frost Beast flesh and blood was hard-earned, so it had to be used to maximize its value.

This was even more true for Great Xia Camp.

Concentrating resources and prioritizing breakthroughs for a few people meant more people could venture out, and the camp would have more resources. This would then help more people improve their strength, and the camp's overall strength would increase rapidly.

The next day, as night fell, the competition began, witnessed by everyone in the camp.

Of course, Xia Hong first distributed a pound of meat to each of the twenty-two contestants.

A pound of Frost Beast flesh and blood was certainly not enough to sustain their cultivation, but it was enough to quickly fill them up and unleash their maximum basic strength.

After eating, the faces of the twenty-two people quickly turned rosy, and their previously listless appearance was swept away. They had a completely different spirit compared to the hundred or so people who didn't get any Frost Beast flesh and blood.

Xia Hong handed over the responsibility of hosting the competition to Xia Chuan and Yuan Cheng, while he seized the time to cultivate while eating Frost Beast flesh and blood.

The crushing defeat of Da Shi Camp and the terror of the Frost Beasts filled him with a sense of urgency.

Da Shi Camp had sixteen Lumbering Realm combatants, including two archers with infallible aim. Such a luxurious configuration failed to hunt a low-level Frost Beast and even resulted in the deaths of three people.

Although this was related to their carelessness, the strength and cunning nature of the Frost Beasts were undeniable facts.

Xia Hong estimated that the Snow鬃's charging force before its death was close to ten thousand pounds.

Ten thousand pounds of force was the standard for the Earth-Digging Realm.

Among all the camps around Redwood Ridge, besides Rogue Camp, there was also Tie Feng Camp's leader, Tie Ying, who possessed an Earth-Digging Realm expert.

Xia Hong lowered his head and looked at the ground of the cave, holding his breath and concentrating his energy. He clenched his fists and slammed them into the ground.

Bang…

He now had five thousand pounds of force, but such a powerful blow to the ground only produced a small sound.

The ground remained motionless, with only some dust rising near his fists.

The so-called Earth-Digging Realm referred to people who, upon reaching this realm, could use brute force to break through the ground and extract underground resources.

Years of extremely cold weather had made all the land incredibly hard, not to mention that this side of the cave was entirely made of stone.

"This survival difficulty is truly hell-level!"

The land was too hard, which meant it was impossible to cultivate.

Humans could only obtain food by relying on those trees that could survive in the extremely cold environment and bear fruit, such as the Ice Shuo tree.

Could those trees be treated as food and transplanted back to the camp?

Xia Hong had asked Xia Ding this question before.

The answer was no.

Because those trees needed sunlight to grow.

Sunlight was only available during the day, but the low temperature during the day was deadly to humans.

Moreover, not only was the temperature extremely low during the day, but the activity range of Frost Beasts was also larger, and their temperament was more violent. Most deadly of all were the strange creatures that could appear at any time.

Years ago, Rogue Camp had tried transplanting Ice Shuo trees to the ground near the camp's cave.

But after a few days, the Ice Shuo trees attracted a large number of Frost Beasts, eventually causing significant casualties to the camp.

People then realized that Frost Beasts would also use the crystal fruits on the Ice Shuo trees to fill their hunger when they couldn't hunt food.

In this way, transplanting Ice Shuo trees had almost become impossible.

"Not necessarily. If the camp's strength is strong enough and not afraid of Frost Beasts, it's still possible to transplant Ice Shuo trees as close as possible."

The current Great Xia Camp was naturally far from meeting this standard of strength. He was just thinking about it.

Despite the myriad of thoughts in his mind, Xia Hong's cultivation continued.

After performing four sets of Everlasting Fist, his animal skin clothing was almost soaked with sweat. Only then did he completely release the burning sensation that had arisen in his body after swallowing the Frost Beast flesh and blood.

However, after slightly clenching his fist and feeling the increase in strength, Xia Hong frowned slightly.

"After breaking through to the Lumbering Realm, my upper limit for bearing Frost Beast flesh and blood has also increased by two pounds. I can now eat seven pounds a day, but the efficiency of improvement seems to have slowed down a bit."

Everything becomes more difficult as you go higher. This is an objective law.

Xia Hong naturally wouldn't overthink it. Just as he was about to stop cultivating, Yuan Cheng and Xia Chuan led five people towards him.

"Yue Feng, Lin Kai, Qiu Peng, Lu Yang… Xu Ning."

Xia Hong only glanced up and immediately recited the names of the five people in his mind.

He paused only at Xu Ning's name.

The camp only had a little over a hundred people in total, and only twenty or so were of the same age. Xia Chuan basically knew them all.

In fact, this result was not too unexpected.

Xia Hong knew that the descendants of those Lumbering Team members would definitely win.

The reason was simple: compared to others, the descendants of those Lumbering Team members had received Frost Beast flesh and blood before, and their strength had a certain foundation.

The result was indeed so.

Yue Feng was the son of former Lumbering Team member Yue Fan, Lin Kai was the son of Lin Yu, Qiu Peng's father was Qiu Ping, the only archer in Great Xia, and Lu Yang was the son of Lu Ting.

Among the five, only Xu Ning was not a descendant of a former Lumbering Team member.

This was also the reason why Xia Hong paused when he saw him just now.

Not being a member of the Lumbering Team meant that he had never eaten Frost Beast meat before and had never cultivated.

Under such conditions, he could still compete for the top five. Not simple!

Xia Hong turned to look at Yuan Cheng and asked, "What is their strength, respectively?"

"Yue Feng is exactly 2000, Lin Kai is 1800, Qiu Peng is 1700, Lu Yang is 1500, and Xu Ning is 1100."

Xia Hong looked into Xu Ning's eyes, and they immediately lit up.

The increase from eating Frost Beast flesh and blood for the first time couldn't be too great, which meant that Xu Ning's basic strength was terrifying.

"This kid might give me some surprises."

Xu Ning was obviously a bit insecure. Seeing Xia Hong looking at him frequently, he became a little nervous, and his expression flickered slightly.

Xia Hong understood. Among the five, he was the only one who was not a descendant of a Lumbering Team member, and there was a gap in strength compared to the first four. It was normal for people of this age to feel inferior.

So he stopped paying special attention and took out the five pieces of Frost Beast flesh and blood that had been prepared from behind and distributed them to the five people.

"From today onwards, I will take the time to teach you Everlasting Fist every day. You have eaten Frost Beast flesh and blood before, and absorbing it using traditional methods, according to your current physical condition, you can only absorb half a pound, or even less than half a pound, a day.

Practicing Everlasting Fist can improve your efficiency in absorbing Frost Beast flesh and blood, and your strength will increase faster. So if you want to become stronger quickly, you must learn carefully and diligently.

Next time, if the camp has Frost Beast flesh and blood again, it will be the same as this time. Whoever is closest to the Lumbering Realm will get the most share, understand?"

The five people took the Frost Beast meat, their expressions excited. Hearing Xia Hong's instructions, they all raised their heads, their faces solemn, and replied in unison:

"Yes, Leader!"

Remembering those people from Da Shi Camp, Xia Hong looked at the five people in front of him. Although he knew the gap was still very large, he felt a little more confident in his heart.

It had been ten days since the Lumbering Team was wiped out.

He, the leader, finally had his first small team.

Great Xia Camp had also recovered some vitality.